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24 Jan 2006 : Column 2054W—continued
Child Support Agency
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the change in the annual maintenance payments of the Child Support Agency which would result from full compliance of all assessed cases; and if he will make a statement. [28385]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Hilary Reynolds, dated 24 January 2006:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive, as Stephen Geraghty is on leave I am replying on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the increase in the annual maintenance payments of the Child Support Agency which would result from full compliance of all assessed cases and if he will make a statement.
In the 12 months to September 2005, the Agency collected 69 per cent. 1 of maintenance charged to non-resident parents on the Agency's collection service, which equates to £678m. Had full compliance been achieved over this same period, this would have resulted in an increase in collections of around £260m.
1 Measured according to the Agency's standard definition of cash compliance. Cash compliance is calculated by expressing the total amount of maintenance received via the collection service as a percentage of the total! amount due over the reporting period. The above includes those old scheme cases with a full maintenance assessment, and those new scheme cases with either a full maintenance calculation, or a default maintenance decision. Old scheme cases with an punitive interim maintenance assessment are excluded from this analysis in line with the Agency's target definitions, as are new scheme cases being processed clerically.
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps are being taken to ensure that individuals whose partners are self-employed can still receive Child Support Agency payments. [19809]
Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Mr. Stephen Geraghty. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 25 January 2006:
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps are being taken to ensure that individuals whose partners are self-employed can still receive Child Support Agency payments.
For employed non-resident parents who are initially non-compliant the Agency seeks to use deduction-from-earnings orders to secure maintenance. For self- employed non-resident parents these powers are inappropriate. In these cases the Agency instead uses one or more of a range of its other legal debt enforcement powers.
The Agency's enforcement teams are becoming much more successful in utilising these powers. This is demonstrated by the significant improvement in the in-month cash collections achieved, rising from £0.52 million in January 2005 to £1.42 million in November 2005. An analysis of a sample of debt enforcement cases indicates that approximately 73 % are self-employed non-resident parents.
Departmental Websites
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when his Department's website design was first implemented; for how long the search function of the website has been inoperative; and if he will make a statement. [45380]
Mr. Timms: The Department for Work and Pensions has had an internet site since the Department was formed on the 8 June 2001. The site was updated with a new design on the 15 May 2005. The redesign does not affect the search function, which is fully operational but has been operating on a non-standard port.
From February 2006 the Department's internet site will be running on a new server and the search engine will operate on a standard port. This is in response to an
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increasing number of internet users-including users within the Department-who have set their computers with high security levels to block information from non-standard ports.
Implementation of the new server will remove the problem.
Incapacity Benefit
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people claiming incapacity benefit have indicated to his Department that they want to work. [44504]
Margaret Hodge: The opportunity to work is vitally important in tackling poverty, supporting inclusion and ensuring economic prosperity for both the individual and society. The right to work is as important as the right to equal treatment or access to services. For too many people on incapacity benefit have been denied this right, written off as incapable of work and locked into lifelong dependency on benefits.
We know that the vast majority of people on incapacity benefit have genuine health problems or disabilities. But we also know that a large proportion of these people want to work. In the early stages of an incapacity benefit claim 80–90 per cent. of people expect to get back to work and around 1 million disabled benefit claimants want to work. So we want to ensure that they are given the opportunity to do so. Our task is to break down the barriers that incapacity benefit recipients face and give them the support they need, so that they can get a job and enjoy all the benefits that work can bring.
Local Housing Allowance
Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what funding has been allocated to support piloting of the local housing allowance in the social rented sector; [44551]
(2) whether he plans to publish a consultation paper on his proposals for piloting the local housing allowance in the social rented sector; [44552]
(3) what research he has commissioned into the impact of the local housing allowance on the rental income streams of (a) local authorities and (b) housing associations; [44598]
(4) which (a) local authorities and (b) housing associations have expressed an interest in piloting the local housing allowance in the social rented sector. [44599]
Mr. Plaskitt: 'A new deal for welfare: Empowering people to work', which was published on 24 January, sets out our proposals for reforming housing benefit. Publication of this paper signals the start of a 12-week period of consultation on a number of issues and seeks stakeholder views on options for reforming housing benefit for tenants in the social rented sector.
It is clearly desirable that we consult with those having an interest in social housing issues before making decisions about the direction of reform and it would be premature to commission research or put forward specific proposals for reform until after the end of the consultation period.
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Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost of replacing the single room rent restriction with the shared room rate restriction available to under-25s under the local housing allowance. [44600]
Mr. Plaskitt: No estimate has been made of the costs of replacing the single room rent nationally with the shared room rate under the local housing allowance.
New Deal
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will make a decision on the Jobcentre Plus contracts for the new deal, with particular reference to providers of basic skills training. [41510]
Margaret Hodge: Contracts for the new deal for young people and new deal 25 plus programmes, which include the provision of basic skills training, are currently being re-tendered. We announced the providers who have been successful at the first stage on the 16 January.
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